USC guard Dwight Lewis goes up for a shot in front of Oklahoma forward Ryan Wright in the first half. Lewis led the Trojans with 25 points.

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No. 4 Oklahoma opens with victory Suns use big second half to edge Thunder Gonzaga breaks away in 2nd half against Washington St. No. 1 UConn trounces No. 4 Okla.

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NORMAN, Okla. — Blake Griffin scored 11 of his 25 points after getting hit with a cheap shot elbow in the second half, and No. 6 Oklahoma staved off a rally by USC for a 73-72 victory Thursday night.

Griffin, a preseason All-America forward, had to come out of the game briefly after getting elbowed below the waist by USC's Leonard Washington with 13:54 left. He was able to return and help the Sooners (7-0) keep the Trojans at bay.

USC (5-3) trailed by 11 early in the second half and got within one point three times, but Oklahoma had an answer every time.

Austin Johnson had 17 points and Griffin's older brother, Taylor, scored 10 for the Sooners, who committed a season-low eight turnovers.

Dwight Lewis led USC with 25 points, Taj Gibson had 12 points and 10 rebounds and DeMar DeRozan scored 10 points.

DeRozan had a final chance at a game-winner, but his desperation heave from beyond halfcourt sailed wide right at the buzzer.

Washington was ejected after officials huddled around a replay monitor and saw him elbow Blake Griffin below the waistline as the Trojans prepared to set up their offense.

● No. 19 Arizona State 81, Jackson State 60: In Tempe, James Harden had 22 points and eight rebounds in Arizona State's victory.

Harden led the Sun Devils in scoring for the 31st time in 41 career games despite fouling out with 4:10 to play.

Jeff Pendergraph had 19 points and Rihards Kuksiks added 16 for the Sun Devils (6-1), off to their best start since they went 11-1 to open 2004-05.

● No. 2 Connecticut 66, Buffalo 64: In Amherst, N.Y., Hasheem Thabeet had 21 points and 18 rebounds, Jeff Adrien added 18 points, and Connecticut survived a big scare, holding off Buffalo.

Rodney Pierce had a chance to force overtime in the final seconds with the Bulls trailing 66-64, but Max Boudreau bobbled his pass in the lane with 4 seconds left and Kemba Walker made two free throws for the Huskies.

● No. 8 Texas 68, No. 12 UCLA 64: In Austin, Texas, A.J. Abrams scored 31 points, including the last six of the game for Texas.

Abrams broke a 62-62 tie with a three-pointer with 2:53 to play, then made two free throws a minute later to push Texas' lead back to three. After the Bruins' Josh Shipp missed the front end of a one-and-one with 15 seconds left, Shipp fouled Abrams who made one of his two free throws for the final point.

● No. 17 Villanova 93, Houston Baptist 57: In Villanova, Pa., Scottie Reynolds scored a season-high 23 points and had six assists and Villanova stayed unbeaten.

Corey Stokes scored a career-high 22 points and Dante Cunningham had 13 for Villanova.

● Washington 83, Oklahoma State 65: In Seattle, freshman Isaiah Thomas scored 18 points and Jon Brockman pounded Oklahoma State inside with 16 points and 11 rebounds.

Brockman got his fourth double-double in seven games this season for the inconsistent Huskies (4-3), who had their most impressive showing of the young season in their only remaining test before the Pac-10 season begins next month.